In the hand tool art, there exists a well-known and widely used pliars type of tool, the spacing of the jaws of which are adjustable by means of manually operable screws and which include manually operable toggle joint linkage to move the jaws into and out of engagement with related work. The most well known brand of this type of tool is produced by Peterson Mfg. Co., Inc. of Dewitt, Nebraska, and sold under the tradename "Vice Grip". The basic vice grip type of tool is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,454 entitled "Wrench" and issued Oct. 20, 1942 to H. C. Borshers.
Prior and subsequent to the noted Borshers patent, many wrenches similar to the Borshers wrench and utilizing toggle joint linkage to move the jaws were and have been provided by the prior art. Common characteristics found in the majority of those prior art wrenches or hand tools are: they include one fixed or stationary jaw; one movable jaw which is pivotally related or slidably related to the fixed jaw; and manually operable toggle joint linkage to move the jaws towards each other and including a compression part in direct driving engagement with the movable jaw to exert working forces on and through the movable jaw when the linkage is operated.
Due to the basic structures and principles of operation of the above noted prior art wrenches and the manner and/or direction in which the art has developed, substantially all of those wrenches are short, hand-held units and such that they cannot be effectively lengthened or extended to meet the needs for elongated wrenches and the like for engaging work in remote and hard to reach places.